Neighborhood Pride Program

The city has received an award for its 2-year-old Neighborhood Pride program, which has targeted 52 residential streets for improvements. More than 40 city programs in the state were nominated for the California Healthy Cities Project Outstanding Achievement Award. Half Moon Bay and San Fernando were also named as award winners.

For the fifth consecutive year, Mesa Pride is sponsoring a Neighborhood Pride contest that seeks out the city's most attractive neighborhoods and dwellings. Arlene Schafer, president of Mesa Pride, said there are three categories: neighborhood blocks, single-family houses, and condominiums or apartments. Applicants will be judged on appearance, landscaping and general upkeep, Schafer said.

The City Council this week unanimously voted to continue the Neighborhood Pride Program, which council members said has been successful in improving blighted conditions in the city. The program, which began on a small scale in 1990 but was expanded last December to a 52-block area, focuses on improving the appearance of the neighborhood and cracking down on parking and municipal code violations.

The city has received an award for its 2-year-old Neighborhood Pride program, which has targeted 52 residential streets for improvements. More than 40 city programs in the state were nominated for the California Healthy Cities Project Outstanding Achievement Award. Half Moon Bay and San Fernando were also named as award winners.

For the fifth consecutive year, Mesa Pride is sponsoring a Neighborhood Pride contest that seeks out the city's most attractive neighborhoods and dwellings. Arlene Schafer, president of Mesa Pride, said there are three categories: neighborhood blocks, single-family houses, and condominiums or apartments. Applicants will be judged on appearance, landscaping and general upkeep, Schafer said.

Ben Cooper, who reshaped a struggling television publication into TV Fanfare Publications, which produces the TV Logs and TV Movie News found at supermarket checkout lines across the country, has died. A spokesman for his firm said this week that Cooper was 71 when he died Sept. 6 in an Encino hospital of a heart ailment. At his death, the free publications were produced in 6,000 television markets across the United States from 39 offices.

Local citizens and city officials from San Clemente and Monrovia will share ways to combat neighborhood blight during a public forum scheduled for Thursday. Representing Monrovia will be Police Chief Joe Santoro and Don Hopper, director of that city's Community Development Department. Both championed a successful effort to check urban blight, called the Neighborhood Improvement Program.

Residents and landlords of several rundown neighborhoods are being asked to help city crews pull weeds, mend broken fences and repair damaged buildings. As part of the "Neighborhood Pride" program, city officials ask that residents of the 100 and 200 blocks of West Escalones and West Canada and the 200 block of Avenida Del Poniente join city workers in revitalizing the neighborhoods on Jan. 26.

The Social and Public Art Resource Center is accepting applications for the 1993-94 "Great Walls Unlimited: Neighborhood Pride" murals program. Several artists are selected each year in the annual open competition. Mural commissions of $10,000 plus materials will be granted to experienced muralists; first-time and less-experienced muralists will receive $5,000 plus materials. Workshops to help applicants will be held Saturday and Aug. 11. The deadline to submit applications is Sept. 3.

A group of property owners who say their neighborhood is deteriorating because of overcrowding and crime will ask the City Council to consider drafting an overcrowding ordinance. The group, which calls itself the Stop Neighborhood Slumming Committee, says overcrowding has decreased the availability of parking and increased crime and trash in a five-block area of single-family homes and apartment buildings along West Escalones, West Canada and a portion of Avenida del Poniente.

Ben Cooper, who reshaped a struggling television publication into TV Fanfare Publications, which produces the TV Logs and TV Movie News found at supermarket checkout lines across the country, has died. A spokesman for his firm said this week that Cooper was 71 when he died Sept. 6 in an Encino hospital of a heart ailment. At his death, the free publications were produced in 6,000 television markets across the United States from 39 offices.

The City Council this week unanimously voted to continue the Neighborhood Pride Program, which council members said has been successful in improving blighted conditions in the city. The program, which began on a small scale in 1990 but was expanded last December to a 52-block area, focuses on improving the appearance of the neighborhood and cracking down on parking and municipal code violations.

More than 50 residents and property owners urged the city Planning Commission this week to move forward with plans to strengthen the city's parking requirements for future apartment or condominium projects. Current parking requirements, which are considered too lenient by some, have led to congestion on many streets, city officials said. "We have the sins of the past that we have to pay for today," said Commissioner Steve Apodaca.

More than 100 angry residents demanded this week that the City Council draft an overcrowding ordinance similar to one recently passed in Santa Ana to deal with deteriorating conditions in certain neighborhoods. The standing-room-only crowd, most of whom were wearing large, red-and-white "Stop!